The 16-year-old's mum went to wake her for school to find her bed empty and the front door of their North Carolina home wide open.
"It was the worst feeling you could ever imagine. You feel completely out of control. You don't know what to do," Hailey's father, Tony Burns, told WCNC News of his daughter's disappearance.
The family, who have spent the past year searching for her, never gave up hope that they would find the teenager alive.
Now, more than a year later, Hailey has been found and reunited with her parents.
"Our sweet baby is coming home with us," Hailey's mum wrote on Facebook.
According to Fox 5 Atlanta, Hailey was found at the home of a 31-year-old man in Georgia - two states away from her home - by the FBI.
Authorities believe Hailey started talking to the man, Michael Ren Wysolovski, on the internet, and left her home over a year ago to meet him.
Wysolovski is now in custody and is facing a number of charges including aggravated sodomy, cruelty to children and deprivation, interference with custody, and false imprisonment, according to Fox News.
"I woke up this morning at about 4 am. I walked into my daughter's room like I have for over a year but this time she was there in her bed safe and sound," Hailey's emotional father wrote on Facebook of his daugher's return.
"I can but thank the people who helped make this possible, all of the law enforcement and amazing friends that our family has been blessed with. Though tired from an amazing 48 hours where we helped lead the authorities to where my daughter was, I woke up today crying and grateful again for the miracle that has happened in our lives. She will need all of your support as she fights back from this ordeal. But she feels the love around her."
"We never gave up. She is happy and grateful to be home. We can now breath again."
This article first published on Marie Claire.
